Effect of current stimulus on in vivo cochlear mechanics

In this paper, the influence of direct current stimulation on the acoustic impulse response of the basilar membrane (BM) is studied. A positive current applied in the scala vestibuli relative to a ground electrode in the scala tympani is found to enhance gain and increase the best frequency at a given location on the BM. An opposite effect is found for a negative current. Also, the amplitude of low-frequency cochlear microphonic at high sound levels is found to change with the concurrent application of direct current stimulus. BM vibrations in response to pure tone acoustic excitation are found to possess harmonics whose levels relative to the fundamental increase with the application of positive current and decrease with the application of negative current. A model for outer hair cell activity that couples changes in length and stiffness to transmembrane potential is used to interpret the results of these experiments and others in the literature. The importance of the in vivo mechanical and electrical loading is emphasized. Simulation results show the somewhat paradoxical finding that for outer hair cells under tension, hyperpolarization causes shortening of the cell length due to the dominance of voltage dependent stiffness changes.     

Approximation Algorithms for Pick-and-Place Robots

In this paper we study the problem of finding placement tours for pick-and-place robots, also known as the printed circuit board assembly problem with m positions on a board, n bins containing m components and n locations for the bins. In the standard model where the working time of the robot is proportional to the distances travelled, the general problem appears as a combination of the travelling salesman problem and the matching problem, and for m=n we have an Euclidean, bipartite travelling salesman problem. We give a polynomial-time algorithm which achieves an approximation guarantee of 3+. An important special instance of the problem is the case of a fixed assignment of bins to bin-locations. This appears as a special case of a bipartite TSP satisfying the quadrangle inequality and given some fixed matching arcs. We obtain a 1.8 factor approximation with the stacker crane algorithm of Frederikson, Hecht and Kim. For the general bipartite case we also show a 2.0 factor approximation algorithm which is based on a new insertion technique for bipartite TSPs with quadrangle inequality. Implementations and experiments on real-world as well as random point configurations conclude this paper.     

Diffusion studies in liquids by multiple beam interferometer

A new method to determine the diffusion coefficients of transparent solutions using a multiple beam interferometer in real-time is reported. The experimental results are compared with existing diffusion coefficient values reported in the literature.     

Debye-Waller factor of gold

The temperature dependence of the exponent of Debye-Waller factor of gold for the temperature range extending from 50 to 900°K has been studied using a theoretical model where the interactions are treated in realistic manner. The results are found to be in reasonable agreement with the experimental ones.     

An objective time-integration procedure for isotropic rate-independent and rate-dependent elastic-plastic constitutive equations

In a large class of rate-independent and rate-dependent elastic-plastic constitutive equations the elasticity is modeled in hypoelastic form, with the stress rate being taken as the Jaumann derivative, so as to make the constitutive model properly frame-indifferent or objective. Here, we present a fully-implicit, stable time-integration procedure for implementing such constitutive models in displacement-based finite element procedures. The numerical procedure preserves the very desirable feature of incremental objectivity. The overall procedure is a generalization of the well known “radial-return” algorithm of classical rate-independent plasticity, and it is therefore well suited for implementation in large-scale finite element codes. As an example, we have implemented the time-integration procedure in the finite element code ABAQUS. To check the incremental objectivity, accuracy, and stability of the algorithm some representative problems are solved.     

Level structures of 95,97Mo — A comparative study

High-spin states of ^95,97Mo (Z=42, N=53,55) nuclei have been investigated through ⁸²Se(¹⁸O, xn) reaction at Eb=60 MeV. The level scheme in ⁹⁵Mo has been observed upto ≏ 10 MeV in the present experiment. The level structure shows mainly single particle character. In ⁹⁷Mo, the ground state level sequence has been extended to ≏ 4.5 MeV while the previous information had been up to 2.4 MeV. A negative parity band built on 1437 keV (11/2⁻) excited state has been extended to 5.5 MeV. The structure seems to show a coexistence of single particle and collective modes of excitation. Properties of both the nuclei have been compared with shell model calculations using OXBASH.